


For They Shall Be Comforted

by enigmaticblue



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-29
Updated: 2011-03-29
Packaged: 2017-10-17 09:05:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/175198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticblue/pseuds/enigmaticblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helen considers just closing up Ashley’s room and leaving it just as it was the day she was captured.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For They Shall Be Comforted

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the sanctuary_bingo prompt, “Ashley’s Room”

Helen considers just closing Ashley’s room and leaving it just as it was the day she was captured. After she says goodbye, and gives up on seeing Ashley alive again, she thinks it would be easier to lock the door. Bigfoot might dust once a week, but otherwise it would be left alone.

 

But Helen has made peace with the fact that Ashley is gone, and isn’t coming back. She has accepted that life must go on, and that means going through Ashley’s belongings.

 

Kate, Will, and Henry have made themselves scarce, which is probably a wise decision on their parts. Bigfoot is around somewhere, but he has an uncanny ability to know when she needs him, and when she needs to be left alone.

 

Right now, she needs to be alone.

 

“Helen?”

 

She stiffens. “What are you doing here, John?”

 

“I’m taking a break from killing members of the Cabal.” His light tone is at odds with his words.

 

There are times when Helen can forget that John is a killer. There are even times when she can appreciate it. At the moment, she cannot regret that he’s killing Cabal members.

 

When she doesn’t reply right away, John asks, “What are you doing?”

 

“Packing away Ashley’s things.” Helen thinks that’s obvious, but she doesn’t want to fight at the moment. She just wants to grieve in peace.

 

John wanders over to stand next to her and picks up a framed picture from the dresser. Helen has cleared out most of Ashley’s clothing, but she’s left the personal mementos for last.

 

She glances over and feels a lump form in her throat when she sees the photograph. Ashley’s young face beams at her; she has an arm flung around Henry’s neck, and he’s wearing a sweet, somewhat bashful smile.

 

“She was ten there,” Helen murmurs.

 

John touches the glass over her face. “She was full of fire, wasn’t she?”

 

“Always,” Helen replies.

 

John moves on to the next item, a carved wooden box that Helen had picked up in Indonesia. “Indonesian?”

 

“Yes.” Helen reaches out to trace the elephants marching across the top. “She went through a period where she loved elephants.”

 

“There’s so much I don’t know about her,” John says softly. “So much I’ll never know.”

 

Helen sees her sorrow reflected on John’s face, and she feels closer to him in that moment than she has since she discovered he was Jack the Ripper. “I’ve lost so many people,” Helen replies. “But this loss… It’s taken the heart right out of me.”

 

John brushes her cheek with one finger. Helen has forgotten that John is capable of tenderness. “Grief passes. You know that as well as anyone.”

 

“I don’t know that this grief will.”

 

John’s hand curves around the back of Helen’s neck, and she might be frightened except that his touch is so sure, so kind, that she leans her head against his chest when he pulls her closer. John is one of the few men she’s ever been with who is considerably taller than her, and she feels his lips brush the top of her head.

 

“Thank you for being here,” she says, and she means every word.

 

She can set aside their differences for now. She can mourn her daughter with Ashley’s father.

 

It’s a small comfort.


End file.
